Children of the Underworld
by shiiki
Summary: Between MoA and HoH, Hazel and Nico talk about past and future. [Christmas giftfic for orangeflowers]


**Summary:** Between _MoA_ and _HoH_ , Hazel and Nico talk about past and future.

For **orangeflowers** , who requested _Nico and Hazel having some bonding time, maybe shortly after MoA?_

 **A/N** : Dear **orangeflowers** , Happy Christmas! Sorry this is so angsty. That period post- _MoA_ can't have been the easiest for these two. But I hope there's enough good sibling fuzziness to make up for the sad.

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 **Children of the Underworld**

 _A Christmas giftfic for_ _ **orangeflowers**_

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Hazel was on her way back to her cabin when she heard the voices. They were coming from behind Nico's door, chittering away like little birds in some language she couldn't understand, but was familiar all the same, like a soundtrack from her childhood.

For a moment, she wondered if Nico was making one of those Iris-message things that the Greeks talked about. Maybe he was speaking to someone in Italian. But that was silly. She'd barely even heard any Italian before, aside from the cuss words the police officers had yelled after them when they'd fled Rome.

Then she realised why the voices sounded familiar. They had surrounded her for nearly seventy years in Asphodel, chattering blankly at one another in words that no one but Hazel ever understood (if she listened hard enough, that was). And now that she'd identified it, she could make out a couple of words here and there, as though she were translating a foreign language she'd gotten rusty with: _children of Hades … enemy … impossible task … only one …_

Immediately, Hazel regretted eavesdropping. Whatever they were saying, it wasn't exactly spirit-lifting.

She knocked on the cabin door. 'Nico?'

The voices faded. A moment later, the door creaked open on its own.

Nico was sitting cross-legged on his bunk with his Stygian iron sword laid flat across his lap. He had placed one hand on either end and his eyes were misty and unfocused, as though in a trance. It was a few seconds before he looked up at Hazel.

'Is it my watch already?'

'No, I just heard—are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' he said automatically, but it was obviously a lie. None of them were fine. They hadn't been since Rome. And Nico in particular …

'I was talking to the dead,' Nico said. 'They—well, sometimes they know things. I finally managed to get through.'

'What did they say?'

Nico twisted his skull ring round and round his finger. 'I don't know if I should tell you …'

'It's something about me, isn't it?'

He sighed. 'Not entirely. It's—they said two of us, two children of the Underworld, would enter the House of Hades …'

'That's good, right? That means we'll make it there. We'll find a way past these cursed _ourae_ blocking us right now.'

'… but only one of us would reach the Doors of Death.'

Hazel's hope crumbled. That sounded like … it sounded like …

No. She wouldn't jump to conclusions.

'So one of us has to stay behind?' she ventured.

Nico's hands curled into fists and pressed against his forehead. 'I don't know,' he said. 'They said there would be an enemy there and she'd be impossible to beat—in the usual way, at least.'

'Who? It can't be Gaia—one of the giants? But what did they mean, "in the usual way?"'

'I don't know,' Nico repeated, now beating his fist irritably against his thigh. Hazel could tell it was frustrating him not to have the answers.

'Okay.' Hazel took a deep breath. At least they were forewarned. They could work this out. 'We can talk to the others, figure out—'

'No!' Nico's hand shot out to grab her arm. 'You've seen how everyone is now. You can't tell the others. Not yet. Their courage is already stretched to the limit. They aren't ready to deal with this on top of everything else.'

 _And you are?_ Hazel thought. Nico's physical state was marginally better than when they'd pulled him out of the bronze jar. It still made her wince to see how his clothes hung on him. He'd always been thin and pale, but now he resembled more the skeletal ghosts he kept trying to commune with than he did a mortal boy. And she didn't even want to guess at what his mental state was like. After the things he'd shared with her about Tartarus …

'Besides,' Nico said, releasing her and fiddling with his skull ring again, 'the spirits also said …'

'What? What did they say _exactly,_ Nico?'

He gulped and stared into his lap, unable to meet Hazel's eyes. '"A daughter of Pluto will face an impossible foe." But Hazel, I'll be there, too. I won't let you go it alone.'

'No. It's clear, isn't it? I'm going to have to work on this obstacle between us and the Doors of Death. It's my job.'

Nico looked at her miserably. 'I'm so sorry, Hazel. When I brought you back, I didn't think you'd get caught up in something like this. I only wanted—'

'To give me a second chance.' Hazel took his hand and squeezed it. 'I know. And I'm not sorry. You _did_ give me a second chance—to make up for everything I did wrong in my last life. And if this is it, then I'm going to go down fighting. Maybe Dad will let me into Elysium this time.'

'Why does everything have to be a trade?' Nico said in a bitter undertone. Then he set his jaw in a grim line. 'Okay. But we'll make sure you're ready. I'm going to find out all I can. I'll keep communing with the dead—now that I've managed to get through to the spirits, I should be able to summon them back, get more out of them.'

Hazel looked at the deep shadows under his eyes, the sunken hollows of his cheeks. How many nights had he stayed up already, taking on this responsibility on top of his guard shifts on the Argo II? 'You're doing too much, Nico. You're wearing yourself thin.'

'I have to do this. I made a promise. We have to get to the Doors of Death. P-Percy—Percy and Annabeth are counting on m—on us.'

His voice shook with desperation. The memory of their friends falling away into darkness dangled between them. Hazel had seen the look on Nico's face when Percy had let go. As if a piece of Nico had gotten torn away and dragged into the pit, too. Piper had a theory that Nico was secretly in love with Annabeth, but Hazel didn't think that was it. She didn't know what history her brother had with the pair of them, but it wasn't just Annabeth who meant something to Nico. She was sure of it.

Either way, he'd lost them both. They all had.

Guilt clung to her like an unshakeable fog. She'd told Leo that it wasn't his fault for using up his fortune cookie, but she couldn't help wondering. If he hadn't wasted it on her and Frank, would it have been able to save Percy and Annabeth instead?

 _Why does everything have to be a trade?_ Nico had said. Had the dead told him about Salt Lake City and Nemesis's deal?

Hazel and Frank for Percy and Annabeth.

Hazel for Bianca.

Each time Nico had lost something, he'd ended up with her instead.

Hazel didn't feel like she was worth it. But for better or worse, here she was, and she was who Nico had now. He didn't need to deal with her self-doubt.

'We _will_ get them back,' she promised. 'We won't let them down. But you're not doing any more tonight. You need to sleep.'

Nico swallowed hard. 'It's … not been easy to sleep,' he admitted. 'Sometimes I feel like I'm alone in the bronze jar again.'

'What if I stay with you? Pretend—pretend I'm Bianca. Will that help?'

Nico was silent for a long time. Then he put his sword away and lay back on his bunk, breathing slowly. 'Thanks,' he said. 'And—I don't need to pretend. You're my sister, too, Hazel. And I'm glad you're here.'

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 **A/N** : Nico sure is popular—nearly everyone has requested him to feature in their giftfic! I've been striving very hard to keep things light, but that's not an easy task with Mr 'I'm the ghostangst king' di Angelo. You know that scene in HoH—' _waves of darkness rolled off the son of Hades_ '? Yeah, the waves of darkness just keep coming with this kid. Ah well, we all love him anyway, right?

Next up will be the giftfic for **strawberrygirl2000**!


End file.
